# Huntsman to formally enter race. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470 "2011-06-14T18:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/1 "2011-06-14T18:29:50Z")
[Here](http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/14/huntsman.announcement/index.html?hpt=po_t2) is news unlikely to surprise anyone. Huntsman is in it, or is soon to be. Question(s): is he the new Daniels, as in the alternative to Romney who’s not Pawlenty? Will his Mormonism help Romney by making the faith look more mainstream? My main question though centers on the field itself. At current count, he’s one of nine (counting the invisible Johnson) and will be one of ten if Perry enters. Aren’t there enough candidates at present? Couldn’t one of them pivot to the center? I don’t see why he’s necessary. On a personal note, I like the fact that he hasn’t apologized for his work as an ambassador under the current administration. That shows he’s an American first, Republican second. I also like his tone on gay rights, not a firebrand civil libertarian like Glenn Greenwald but not a Rick Santorum either. He seems to be a sane conservative and, like Andrew Sullivan and David Brooks (sane cons themselves), I look forward to hearing him out. I just wish the GOP could narrow its field to, say, 3 people instead of upwards of a dozen. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/2 "2011-06-14T18:35:04Z")
FWIW, George Will doesn’t [seem](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jon-huntsmans-thorny-path-to-the-gop-nomination/2011/05/31/AGLPhkGH_story.html) optimistic about Huntsman’s chances. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/3 "2011-06-14T18:57:30Z")
_And!!!_… it’s [over](http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/polls-find-huntsman-unacceptable-to-many-in-republican-base/) for John Huntsman. I wonder if he’ll see these numbers before next week and rethink his announcement. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/4 "2011-06-14T18:59:13Z")
> [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > On a personal note, I like the fact that he hasn’t apologized for his work as an ambassador under the current administration. That shows he’s an American first, Republican second. I also like his tone on gay rights, not a firebrand civil libertarian like Glenn Greenwald but not a Rick Santorum either. He seems to be a sane conservative and, like Andrew Sullivan and David Brooks (sane cons themselves), I look forward to hearing him out. I just wish the GOP could narrow its field to, say, 3 people instead of upwards of a dozen. He hasn’t apologized…yet. He will, or he’ll spend the next year and a half battling teabaggers as they bounce off his lips and chin. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/5 "2011-06-14T19:10:12Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > He hasn’t apologized…yet. He will, or he’ll spend the next year and a half battling teabaggers as they bounce off his lips and chin. > > -Joe He can’t pull a Romney 2.0 and stand by his prior sins? I’m curious as to what his niche would be if he, too, must renounce middle of the road positions. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/6 "2011-06-14T19:10:13Z")
Here’s a bet, for anyone who wants to take it: Huntsman will finish third or worse in the Iowa caucuses, and the NH and South Carolina primaries. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/7 "2011-06-14T19:13:57Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Here’s a bet, for anyone who wants to take it: Huntsman will finish third or worse in the Iowa caucuses, and the NH and South Carolina primaries. I doubt he’ll finish fifth there. He’s already said he’s not competing in Iowa. This is because of his opposition to subsidies for ethanol as this [piece](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/04/jon-huntsman-iowa-caucus-2012_n_871299.html) notes. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/8 "2011-06-14T20:09:41Z")
> [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > He can’t pull a Romney 2.0 and stand by his prior sins? I’m curious as to what his niche would be if he, too, must renounce middle of the road positions. What do you mean? If he were to pull a Romney he would have to insist that he wasn’t an Obama ambassador to China, but he was in fact vacationing in China had occasionally had his phone calls back home tapped by Eric Holder. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/9 "2011-06-14T20:28:47Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > If he were to pull a Romney [SNIP] Ah, herein lies the confusion. Were he to pull a Classic Romney, 1.0, then, yes, he would deny anything no matter how implausible. Which is why I asked: > [@](#): > > He can’t pull a Romney 2.0 and stand by his prior sins? A brief explanation: The new Romney, 2.0, is standing by his individual mandate despite its nearly universal unpopularity with his conservative base (dubbed: Obamney Care by Pawlenty) as the right policy for Massachusetts while still criticizing Obama’s federal policy requiring a mandate. He does so on the grounds of federalism, as in states can force citizens to buy insurance but the fed govt. cannot. Many Republicans thought he would have to run away (flip) from this position as he’s done on social issues. Romney, though, has been staunchly defending his mandate since (as George Will recently declared on ABC’s This Week) he’s exceeded his alloted policy changes. (For more on Romney’s newfound consistency, see FrumForum’s [take](http://www.frumforum.com/will-romney-face-up-to-romneycare).) I was wondering if Huntsman, who recently [told](http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/05/exclusive-interview-with-jon-huntsman.html) ABC News that he didn’t regret his service could, like Romney 2.0, continue to defend an unpopular position. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/10 "2011-06-14T20:32:14Z")
> [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > I was wondering if Huntsman, who recently [told](http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/05/exclusive-interview-with-jon-huntsman.html) ABC News that he didn’t regret his service could, like Romney 2.0, continue to defend an unpopular position. See above post about being teabagged into oblivion, then. There is no room for such things in a GOP primary. If it comes down to Romney and Huntsman as the final two, it’ll be whichever decides to throw in to the teabaggers first. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/11 "2011-06-14T21:08:00Z")
At present, I have to say that I have more respect for Huntsman than for anyone else currently in the Republican field. While I disagree with him on many things, he hasn’t really shown much sign of the batshittery that characterizes many of the candidates, and it’s possible he has the backbone to buck the radicals. Some years back, I watched him stand up against considerable pressure from the ultra-conservatives in Utah to veto a piece of legislation I was opposed to. It was a relatively minor thing compared to Presidential aspirations–a back-door attack on video games with mature content–but I thought he handled it well. As I said in another thread, though, I suspect he’s tossing his hat in this time in order to improve his name recognition and “get in line” for a more serious run in 2016. If so, he’s probably gambling that the extremists will wear themselves out in this cycle, and not turn out when there’s no Obama to attack. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/12 "2011-06-14T21:45:37Z")
> [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > I just wish the GOP could narrow its field to, say, 3 people instead of upwards of a dozen. At this stage I think they should be looking for more. I’m not too familiar with Huntsman though. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/13 "2011-06-15T01:44:55Z")
> [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > The new Romney, 2.0, Romney 2.0 is _so_ 2007. I think he’s up to 5 or 6 by now. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/14 "2011-06-15T01:53:56Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > it’s possible he has the backbone to buck the radicals. [Too late.](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/huntsmans_new_panderbased_stra029938.php) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/15 "2011-06-15T02:10:45Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > [Too late.](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/huntsmans_new_panderbased_stra029938.php) Sigh. In that case, he can go to hell on a pogo stick. Sadly, it _still_ doesn’t make him suck as badly as most of the candidates (and maybe-sorta candidates), but that’s only because the suckage of the whole field is measured in petahoovers. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/16 "2011-06-15T02:57:39Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > At present, I have to say that I have more respect for Huntsman than for anyone else currently in the Republican field. Agreed. [QUOTE=Balance] As I said in another thread, though, I suspect he’s tossing his hat in this time in order to improve his name recognition and “get in line” for a more serious run in 2016. [/QUOTE] Agreed. Question: does Huntsman’s Mormonism matter? Could it help Romney by possibly normalizing the thought of Mormons running for the Presidency? Or, assuming Huntsman will run in '16, could Romney’s Mormonism help him? ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/17 "2011-06-15T03:02:58Z")
Huntsman may no longer be bucking the radicals, but it appears they’re bucking him. [Here](http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_052611/content/01125111.guest.html) Rush Limbaugh disapproves of several of his positions. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/18 "2011-06-15T12:26:20Z")
> [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > Question: does Huntsman’s Mormonism matter? Could it help Romney by possibly normalizing the thought of Mormons running for the Presidency? Or, assuming Huntsman will run in '16, could Romney’s Mormonism help him? His Christian heresy would eventually be important if he were to become enough of a threat to the front runners. It won’t matter, though, because he has already committed a much greater sin by violating the GOP orthodoxy - he consorted with the socialist Muslim negro. He won’t get far enough for the first to matter. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Yaxche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8dc957/32.png) [@Yaxche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yaxche)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/19 "2011-06-16T17:40:33Z")
I like Huntsman… I’m a liberal in Utah, and he’s the first Republican governor I’ve voted for. Socially moderate, reasonably successful business man, and fiscally conservative. I thought he did a good job around here, too, before leaving for the China appointment. The sad part is, he could easily win the general election because of these points, but he won’t make it out of the primary because of the rabid base pandering going on. I voted for Obama, and will again, over any Republican currently in the field… except Huntsman. That sort of cross-over doesn’t seem to figure into the nomination process, however. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470/20 "2011-06-16T20:18:58Z")
> [@Yaxche](#): > > I like Huntsman… I’m a liberal in Utah, and he’s the first Republican governor I’ve voted for. It’s nice to hear from a seasoned Huntsman observer. Did you, as a liberal, like him despite his economic views or because of them? To all Huntsman watchers: [this](http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/269707/huntsman-too-nice-be-president-jim-geraghty?page=1) article at National Review nails the current situation for the would-be candidate. > [@National Review's Jim Geraghety](#): > > ● Staff Assistant, Pres. Ronald Reagan > > ● Ambassador to Singapore > > ● Deputy U.S. Trade Representative > > ● Two-term governor, elected in two landslides > > ● Signed into law the largest tax cut in his state’s history > > ● From 2005 to 2010, his state’s economy expanded by 3.5 percent annually, second-fastest in the nation and three and a half times faster than the U.S. economy as a whole > > ● Enacted a health-care reform that raised the legal standard for malpractice claims > > ● Enacted the most expansive school-voucher program in the country and three pieces of pro-life legislation > > ● Married, seven children, two adopted > > ● A financial net worth that makes self-funding a possibility, or at least suggests that his campaign is unlikely to run low on cash > > **Yet Huntsman is, at this early date, a distinct long shot for the Republican nomination.** (Emphasis mine. The above was, of course, not acutally posted by Geraghety.) Has there ever been a candidate more qualified to run yet shunned by his base? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huntsman-to-formally-enter-race/585470.md?page=2)